Aug 2, 2011

What's Happened in 13 Months

Today we passed a milestone. We are now thirteen months into the News New Mexico project. On day one of News New Mexico (July 1, 2010) we decided to document the amount of debt each taxpaying couple in America has been accumulating since that day. The totals are staggering. In thirteen months, the federal government has borrowed $22,848 for every couple paying income taxes in the U.S. ($11,424 for each individual taxpayer). And since the government actually spends an additional 1.5 times what it borrows, the government is actually spending $57,120 for every taxpaying married couple in the nation ($28,560 for every individual taxpayer). Now some people scoff at those who think about these numbers and suggest government is too big. And with 51% of all American households sitting out the taxpaying and debt service efforts, we can only wonder why those who think we CAN'T keep borrowing and spending like this are branded as nothing but a bunch of crazy social terrorists and racist extremists that don’t care about the “middle class.”